Peregrine Falcons first nested on Derby's Cathedral, England, in 2006. Our Peregrine Project is now run by a partnership between Derbyshire Wildlife Trust, Derby City Council, Derby Cathedral and the Cathedral Quarter. Here is what's happening in 2015. . .

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Saturday, 13 June 2009

Sunday 14th (with Watch Point update)

There will be a watch point between 10.30 and about 1.30pm on Sunday, then further WPs will operate next week on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, weather permitting.

Herewith further excellent graphics work by the infants in the Red Class at Brigg Infant School for you to enjoy!

The watch point today was quieter than Saturdays in tens of people and - until about 12.30, of peregrines too. The male hadn't been seen all morning, just the female and all four young.these young sem to be flying really confidently now. Four of us walked over to Irongate on the West side of the cathedral where we watched two or three of them landing on roofs, taking off and circling round. One of the young even flew up and perched close to its mother on the top of one of the corner pinnacles - as you can see.

011 was watched hopping along a ledge quite low on the south side of the tower...they really are getting the hang of things now. Please forgive two poor hand-held digiscoped photos.....until a proper photographer provides us with better shots......at least they give you the idea!

87 comments:

Fiona Arrowsmith
said...

Wow, these pictures are brilliant!! well done you little ones. It's so heartwarming to know that the children have been watching this wonderful family, I firmly believe that the young ones are mother natures future and I feel so pasionately that they learn to respect and live along side the wonders that nature provides. Super work!!

pax Canadawonderful grapics the children did,amazing how well the young ones do on a computer, my granddaughter is nearly 8 and has been using a computer since she was 3,of course it helps that her dad is a computer whiz :-)So good to see the chicks are doing well, another wonderful year, a big thanks to the project members.

Three birds visible on the pudding cam view this morning. One juvenile on the water spout, another on the ledge, and a tail by the cam itself.The two juveniles have just gone, but the tail owner is still there.

It seems that flying and hunting lessons are on this mornings plan. I have seen two close formation smudges several times on the webcam view. The youngsters on the ledge were also watching them attentively.

@ Wayne:When you post your photos, I wonder if you can allow them to be viewed in larger format? (I have no idea how it is done, but on some blogs, you can click on a photo to see an enlarged version).

@ Wayne:Quite understood. If there any that take my particular fancy I will take up your offer and give you a ping.I remember now that Colin was also unhappy that some toads would copy the photos and either use them without accreditation, or worse - make money out of them.

Just a thought - I hope that high-rise hotel in the background of the right-hand camera has contributed to the costs of the project! It has enjoyed (and will continue to) world-wide publicity whilst those chicks were growing up!

I just admired (again) the children's excellent peregrine pictures. It struck me what a fascinating mix they are of what they see, how they interpret it, and how they can represent that in their PC paintings.

Some are pale with grey/black markings, and others are reversed and have white markings. Some paint with outlines, others with solid colour areas.

They all share observations of detail and great creativity. The children and their teacher can be proud!

My own blogger logo comes from a Paint drawing that my daughter made when just seven. I had told her how some birds were territorial and would try to drive away intruders.

I agree about Jury's, Phoebe and Tom. Next time I need to stop over in Derby, I will certainly stay there and make sure I take my bins or telescope with me - it looks like the most fab place to peregrine watch from! If I ever do, I shall certainly tell them why I'm there and I wouldn't be at all surprised if they decided to become "Friends" ... and it would certainly be of benefit to them if funds were available to keep the cams rolling year round. The best place to grab a drink or something to eat during the day, however, remains the cafe at the cathedral shop, opposite the front entrance of the tower. It's a great cafe plus it has the screen with the webcam feed. No birds "at home" as I write - all off on a mission.

Re the kids' wonderful paintings, I think they've got the mix between fearsome predator and scruffy looking juvenile just right. One thing that has struck me is how the juveniles can do pretty good impersonations of budgies at times when relaxed on the tray. A bit like human adolescents, they switch between grown-up and kids in a flash. It would be nice to see some traditional paintings/drawings by the kids if anyone could be bothered to scan some in. I'd hate to see the ability to use a pencil or brush lost by a generation - though I'm sure this would never happen, kids are just naturals. I live with a professional artist who has done some lovely, lightening-quick drawings of the chicks from the screen - if I find out how to, I may post some on the picture site.

Thanks for your comments about the graphics - I'll pass these on to the teacher. The children have also done many line drawings and if/when I can scan them in, I'll post some.Nick Brown (DWT)ps No joy with Jury's Inn yet I'm afraid despite trying.....

Birdie on PC ...re Jury's, they won't be left in doubt as to why I've chosen them if and when I manage to get there - for a kick off, I'd have to request a room with a window that faces the cathedral. I've been very remiss in adding my praise for the kids artwork - of course, I think it's splendid and just right that the next generation are learning to love our wonderful natural world. Thanks also are due to the teachers who are facilitating this. (Incidentally, I've always loved your picture, Roger, well done to your daughter)I'm toying with the idea of changing my blog picture id - we had the Queen's Birthday flight over our way yesterday (returning from the London flypast). I have a lovely "Chilterns special" salute I managed to snap - I'll put it on flickr - apologies in advance that it's going a bit off subject but hope some of you may enjoy seeing it. It does feature the best bird I can come up with in the Chilterns as we don't have peregrines (that I know of)

Last year (13th Oct '08) Nick B. posted some drawing on this blog done by the children at Brigg Infants School in Derbyshire. Here's a shortned link to it: http://is.gd/11xST

And here's an amusing story of when they visited Cathedral Green for a trial Museum lesson with us: It was a grey and rainy day and the children arrived on the Green where we had erected a couple of telescopes. We had to move them under the trees when the rain started falling in earnest. Nevertheless the young children, all around 5-6 years old, lined up to see mother peregrine on the nest ledge, with dad posed up above. Those children who'd already had a look were given some simple worksheets to occupy them. One activity question asked them to write down their feelings on seing the peregrines for real, having enjoyed studying them in school so much. Words like "excited", "amazing" and "wow" were the order of the day. But one young man came up to me and asked me how to spell "disappointed".It was a good word for any child to use, so I made encouraging noises and together we worked through the phonic spelling: de, ih, se, ah, perh, perh, oy, ih, ner, ter, eh, de.He wrote the letters down and, after completing it, I gently asked him why he felt this way. I started to brace myself for one of those incisive remarks that only a five year old can make. Perhaps he saw a momentary look of anguish flicker across my face as hundreds of hours of hard work by all the Team were about to be crushed by one young schoolboy's remark. "Well", he said, "I'm disappointed because it's raining, and we're all getting wet."

@Helen - are you the teacher? If so, I want to say "thank you and well done" to you too. I hope your kids will one day realise how lucky they have been to have people like you and the Project Team to show them the wonders of our world (even when it rains sometimes!)

Re your story of the disappointed schoolchild at the watch, you probably know the story of the colonial family with a small child, based in Khartoum, Sudan. Everyday, the mother would take the child into the main square, where there was a bronze statue of General Gordon, mounted on a camel. When the father was to be posted to another country, the child asked to go and see the statue of Gordon for the last time. After they had said their final farewells and were walking away, the child turned to his mother and asked, "Mummy, who is that man sitting on Gordon?"

Phoebe - don't forget that the best view of the Jury's must be from the inside looking out! That probably applies to the whole of Derby. Also, let's not be too rude, they may become future benefactors.

The hotel must have cost £millions to build. It would be great PR for them to cough up a donation to a respected wildlife charity, whilst continuing to benefit from the thousands of hits these webcams get every week, I can see the headlines in the local newspaper next week: "New hotel generously supports Derby Peregrine Project".

@Nick B (DWT) - if those shots from the Sunday watchpoint are "poor handheld digiscoped photos" then in Ian Hislop's words "I'm a banana". I'd be ecstatic if I got anything half as good! Looks like you had another lovely day for it. Great to hear our birds are growing in mastery and strength.

Thanks Phoebe - I've told her you like them. She's been doing it for over 40 years, so I suppose she knows what she's doing! It's great that adults and juveniles are going back to the cameras for us sill, eh?

Thanks Karen, she really appreciates your comments. Not a world of difference to the lovely children's pictures I think - and that's where the magic is - being able to keep the original eye that we were all born with.

I see they are still coming back to the tower and the tray at night - we're REALLY going to miss them when they go off for about a year, aren't we? Ever since I started watching the Derby Peregrines, it has given me a much more empathic feeling towards children and humans in general. We all know that these birds go off every day and kill at least 2 others of their fellow creatures, and we all have the fear that our children will do something similar (aside from buying meat in a supermarket), but kids are kids, and the Peregrines are a fantastically good insight into the paradox's of life that we all are caught up in... Oh dear, must go to bed now, for obvious reasons!

Ooooops Sorry uploaded to flickr twice in one day. Must have had too much relaxation for one afternoon, or was it a senior moment? I don't know sorry. What will we all do during the down time? Between now and next season? The pictures from the children are wonderful. Running a daycare I so understand children and the way they think. Things come to them in a way us adults will never understand. Hopefully this site will have a possitive influence on them. My kids here at my daycare surely have had a possitive experience watching the babies grow up and fly away. I use nature all the time to explain life and it's experiences. It is a wonderful tool. I do hope we can capture a few more pictures before the birds fly off and make homes for them selves. Nature has so much to offer us and so much to teach us. If we would just listen and learn.

Mum landed on the gargoyles on pudding cam, she has food but the youngsters aren't there, they are seen flying around in twos maybe it's Dad giving them a lesson. Poor Mum is still sitting there waiting and watching. Pix on flickr later.

qick update from yesterdays watchpoint.not alot really happened in the morning, a few fly pasts via the youngsters. but nothing too major. then the adult falcon flew off and came back with some prey. to our great delight this turned into a food pass with one of the youngsters. but unfortunatly the prey was dropped as they tried to return to the nest ledge. however. just after this happened. all the youngsters were flying around all over the place. giving some great views to us all.

after the watchpoint had gone, i was talking to a gentelman, who had never seen a peregrine before. i pointed out the adult falcon to him, he was overjoyed at this sight. but this was not all to happen, he witnessed his first stoop and his first catching of prey. all within 15 minutes.

even later on in the afternoon. the adult falcon again went hunting. and again caught prey, this time calling all four youngsters off the tower and trying to get them to do food passes, unfortunatly this was not to be and she had to goto the tower for them to actually get the prey. but all in all what a day for the lucky few to see all of this.

That is good news what a lucky man he is. It was quite an exciting day by the sound of it. There will be lots of action in the coming weeks I think with learning food passes and catching their own. How exciting! They have been showing well on the webcams.

Dear project members, when you update the peregrin website can you please change the blurb on the opeining page about the peregrins having fledged etc as this appears to be the same for several Years? Thanks in anticipation

You're right.I'm actually updating the project homepage and donor list at this very moment. But changes to the webcam pages have to be done by a third party - we've simply overlooked getting this changed whilst we've been focussing on everything else. Thanks for reminding me.Nick M.

Looks like a storm is coming We had ours last night and what a doozy of a storm it was. Not seen much of the birds around today. Must be checking in at the wrong times I guess. Hope to get some more pictures before they vanish.(Nice chatting with Pam.)

We went to the Green to see the Peregrines today en route to shops, ended up spending almost four hours watching. There was a good display from the youngsters flying around and with Mum flying too. We saw five in the air circling and gliding around the Cathedral. The Tiercel was not seen at all although there was one flying so high it was almost in the clouds, it seemed a very experienced flier so it could have been Dad. Mum was screaming in flight for quite a long time, but I understand there were children going up the tower to the roof so I imagine this would have upset the birds. It seemed that Mum was calling her young to gather them together. When we left there was only Mum and two young visible each one on the top of a pinnacle, the highest points on the tower, one was definitely female but the other was on a back pinnacle and not so easy to tell male from female.

@ Phoebe Thanks for the update on the green. I wish I could have been there with you guys. Did you have some bad weather there today? Looked pretty stormy on the times I checked in today. Not had much time on the computer too busy Hope I can find more time Tuesday.

Ann, it was mostly very warm and sunny right up until we left at 4pm, I live only around 14 miles as the crow flies and it started raining at home at 7pm with light thunder moving towards Derby. It looks like it has now reached Derby. It's dry back home now!

I spent about 10 minutes last night, feeling sorry for what I thought was a juvenile huddled against the wind and rain on the stonework, but in the light of day this morning, it turns out that it was a piece of the stonework which I didn't recognise...

There should still be lots of sighting on the cams as the youngsters still need to learn to catch and prepare prey, I would imagine they will be coming back to the tray and the stonework to do this. They fly around the tower quite a lot and will be seen on the pudding cam.

I heard that the Dad (tiercel) has not been seen since Saturday, I hope he is okay, I will be watching for him.

Phoebe, my posts (Twwitcher - sp. the result of twitching fingers on the keyboard - LOL!) of yesterday on Flickr I think show the tiercel in the scrape at lunch time. He was there for an extended period. The photos were timed and dated correctly. The bird seemed too small to be the falcon but I am more than happy to be corrected.

Thanks Twwitcher I looked at your picture, I was there yesterday and got a photo of this bird on the ledge. Most seemed to think it was the Falcon, although a very knowledgeable person said it was the Tiercel. I do hope he was right.

Hey, Phoebe's right - smoke coming from the LHS of Jury's - can't see very well as a big bird obscuring my view (on pudding cam) There are two of them eating a kill, I believe I can see red rings on each, so they're our juveniles.

A house adjacent to Rivermead House on Bath Street is curently on fire, we hear, and the fire brigade are in attendance. It's not too close to Jury's Inn, and for those who remember the view before the new Hotel was built, Rivermead House was the tall block of flats we saw in the background which is now obscured.